FIRST ELEVEN: School Began with Just 11 Students — Boys and Girls — Now They Run Kitchens Worldwide

The founder of Ghana’s premier private culinary institution, Mrs. Evelyn Addo-Boye, has revealed that what is today the College of Culinary Arts and Hospitality Management (CoCAHM) began in 1971 with just 11 students.

Speaking in an interview with broadcaster Kafui Dey, Mrs. Addo-Boye said the school started as the School of Domestic Science and Catering after people approached her to teach them the cooking and hospitality skills she had demonstrated through her work and public engagements.

She said the first class was made up of both boys and girls, with five boys and six girls enrolled after an advertisement was placed in the newspapers.

“The first students were 11,” she recalled. “I had five boys to six girls. So, you could quite balance.”

Mrs. Addo-Boye said many of those early students have gone on to occupy important positions in Ghana and abroad, particularly in the hospitality industry.

“You can’t take them for granted,” she said. “They are now in good positions all over America and other places.”

According to her, former students still return to visit her decades later, with some joking that she only knew them in school uniforms and now have to see them in suits.

The culinary educator said seeing the success of her former students remains one of the greatest rewards of her work.

CoCAHM, which began in September 1971, will mark 55 years this year, growing from a class of 11 students into one of Ghana’s best-known hospitality institutions.